


With All the Love in the World and Beyond

by hero_hero



Series: Foxbody [4]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Animals, Astronomy, Constellations, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fox!Jeongin, Friends to Lovers, Hwang Hyunjin is Whipped, Light Angst, M/M, POV Alternating, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23331859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hero_hero/pseuds/hero_hero
Summary: In which Jeongin has to figure out what to do with things left behind and things left unsaid and in turn gets a little advice from an old friend.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Kim Seungmin/Lee Felix, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Foxbody [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641826
Comments: 48
Kudos: 177





	With All the Love in the World and Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> ***if you haven't already, please read the previous three parts before reading this!***
> 
> It took me like THREE TRIES to write this part. And then I ended up writing this final version in literally three days so...woo. 
> 
> That being said, I apologize for any typos or mistakes! Hope you guys enjoy! :)

“What about this?” Felix held up an old sweatshirt that had definitely seen better days. “Thoughts?”

Jeongin blinked, trying to remember ever seeing Woojin wearing that sweatshirt. He couldn’t think of a specific time, so he just ended up saying, “Uhhh—”

Felix sighed and dropped the sweatshirt into the pile of old clothes that was currently exploding all over the living room. “It’s old and falling apart. Donate pile.” He tossed it into the cardboard box by the front door.

“No!” Jeongin quickly grabbed the sweatshirt back. “It’s so well-worn and old that it has to be one of Woojin’s favorite sweatshirts! I can’t give this away!”

Felix sighed again. “Jeongin, I haven’t seen him wear that in literal _years_.”

Jeongin protested by putting on the sweatshirt and giving Felix a stubborn, slightly pouty, look. Felix just shook his head and went back to digging through the pile of old clothes from Woojin’s room.

They had begun the tedious and difficult process of going through all of Woojin’s things. So far they had three piles—the donation pile, the trash pile, and the save pile. The donation pile was practically empty, the trash pile was somewhat full, and the save pile was overflowing.

Jeongin was stubborn, okay? It was really starting to get on Felix’s nerves, but Jeongin couldn’t help it! He didn’t want to get rid of _any_ of Woojin’s things. He didn’t want to make it look like Woojin never even lived here in the first place.

Felix saw it differently. Felix claimed that he wasn’t trying to erase Woojin—that was the _last_ thing he wanted—but that they needed to let go. Going through Woojin’s old things would help both of them cope and move on. It was only healthy. They couldn’t keep dwelling on painful memories; rather, they just had to acknowledge that they were there and keep moving forward.

Needless to say, Jeongin and Felix had fought more in this past week than they had in all the months they had known each other.

“Okay, all of his old socks and underwear can definitely _go_ ,” Felix said, shoving all the said articles of clothing in a trash bag. “Unless you want to make a quilt out of some old boxer briefs?”

“Ha, ha,” Jeongin said, giving him a look before turning back to one of Woojin’s old journals. Granted, Jeongin still couldn’t read, but he could tell that this wasn’t a diary or anything. It was just a notebook full of random lists that had been long since crossed out. It was boring, but Jeongin still felt like he had discovered some sort of precious treasure. These were the small things that reminded him that Woojin wasn’t really gone, he just wasn’t on Earth anymore. Pieces of him were still preserved down here, available for Jeongin to look through whenever he wanted.

He smiled to himself and hugged the journal to his chest.

“I can’t believe he kept _receipts_ from three years ago, like, come _on,_ Woojin.” Felix sighed and shook his head from where he was going through one of Woojin’s desk drawers, taken out of the desk and placed on the floor. “I always thought he was tidy, you know? But turns out he’s just really good at shoving things into small spaces and hiding them from view.”

“You’re not throwing those away, are you?” Jeongin asked, wide-eyed.

“Yes, I am,” Felix said. “And we are _not_ keeping some sort of newspaper article from like ten years ago, okay?”

“But it’s a picture of the bookstore!” Jeongin snatched the newspaper clipping out of Felix’s hand. “See?” He pointed at the black and white photo in the center of the article, which was very clearly the front of their beloved bookstore.

“Yeah, it’s just talking about its grand opening,” Felix said.

“How could you throw that away? It’s a piece of history!” Jeongin clutched the article to his chest.

Felix sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Y’know what, I think we’ve gone through enough today. Let’s call it a day.” He stood.

Jeongin watched as Felix carefully waded through the explosion of Woojin’s things and made his way to the kitchen. Then he looked down at the stuff he had snatched from the pile to keep for himself. Unfortunately, his own little pile had grown so much that it looked like he was sitting in a nest of sorts, right in the middle of the living room. Not to mention how it had at some point converged with the save pile.

It was just one, huge mess. But this was technically Jeongin’s apartment now. Jeongin’s bookstore. Even though Felix had been staying with Jeongin for the past few weeks to help him get back onto his feet, Felix still had an apartment of his own, and it wasn’t here. So it should be up to _Jeongin_ to ultimately decide what they do with everything. And he had wanted to keep everything exactly as it was.

Clearly he hadn’t gotten his wish, since Woojin’s room had been gutted and dragged out to the living room to sort through. Jeongin wondered how much more of a struggle there would be between him and Felix before they had this all figured out.

He could hear Felix rummaging through the kitchen, probably looking for cookies or something. Jeongin just sighed and leaned back on his pile of things to stare up at the ceiling.

The apartment wasn’t their only issue. There was also the issue of the bookstore. They had carried on with business as usual, but Felix was already trying to think long-term. He didn’t want to work in the store forever. He and Seungmin had plans to move in together in the near future, and beyond that, to go to some place called Harvard for law school. Felix himself wasn’t attending, but Seungmin planned to. And of course Felix would go with him and stay by his side throughout the entire process, which apparently took several years.

That meant soon Felix would leave Jeongin too. Jeongin would be on his own. Would have to figure out how to run a business on his own. But did he even _want_ to run the bookstore on his own? Or at all, for that matter?

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. He didn’t want to think about these things right now.

But, sooner or later he’d have to decide what he wanted to do. He couldn’t keep avoiding it forever.

He avoided thinking about that, too.

That night, though, Felix had plans. He and Seungmin were going to go get some dinner, then go to a bowling alley with a huge arcade, then go back to Seungmin’s place, where Felix would spend the night. In other words, Felix had had enough of Jeongin and wanted to have some time with his boyfriend instead. He didn’t say that, obviously, but Jeongin figured it out.

Jeongin could take care of himself, though. He could! And he was determined to prove it!

He fixed himself dinner—hot dogs with ketchup—and carried his plate to the couch, where he turned on the TV all by himself and watched what _he_ wanted to watch. Woojin never let him eat on the couch _and_ he rarely let Jeongin watch TV, telling him he should read instead (except Jeongin couldn’t read so Woojin just ended up reading out loud to Jeongin, which Jeongin liked just fine).

How’s _that_ for not clinging to the past?

Except…Jeongin accidentally dropped a hot dog on the rug, causing him to run for some napkins to scrub at the greasy stain it left behind. He only made it worse and wasn’t sure what to do, so he just left it. And then it took him forever to figure out how to turn on the TV, and once he _did_ , he didn’t know how to change the channel. He ended up watching some sort of strange soap opera in another language. It had a lot of overacting and dramatic music. Jeongin turned it off after awhile and ended up just staring at the wall.

He was a disaster. He had no idea how to even live by himself for a single night. How was he supposed to take care of himself when Felix finally moved out?

Jeongin sighed. Things had been so much easier when he was a fox.

There was a thought.

Jeongin sat up. As terrible as it sounded, Woojin wasn’t here to tell him what he could and could not do…so Jeongin didn’t have to feel guilty about going behind his back. There was literally nothing stopping him now from just shifting back into a fox and going back to Hyunjin’s apartment like he used to.

Literally _nothing_.

So that’s exactly what he did.

It was exhilarating to be back in fox form. To be trotting through the side streets at night. To put all the worries of old receipts and old sweatshirts and businesses and friends abandoning him behind. All that mattered now was dodging people and cars and remembering the way to Hyunjin’s apartment.

Jeongin climbed up the fire escape and clambered onto the balcony. There, he sat down in front of the sliding glass door, took a deep breath, and let out the loudest bark he was capable of.

It took a few moments, but then the closed blinds blocking his view of the apartment shifted, and suddenly the door was unlocking and sliding back and Hyunjin was looking down at him with a confused frown.

He stared down at Jeongin for a few moments, and Jeongin stared back, hoping Hyunjin would step out of the way and let him in.

“What…are you doing,” Hyunjin said.

Jeongin didn’t answer and instead pushed right in between his legs to go into the apartment. The lamp by the couch was on. A paperback book was open and lying facedown on the cushion. Jeongin hopped right up onto the couch, curled up into a little ball, and closed his eyes.

Yep. This was infinitely better than sitting alone in human form in an apartment that used to have one other person in it. Way better.

“Um…Jeongin?” Hyunjin was frowning at him from where he had moved to stand next to the couch. “Seriously, what are you doing?”

Jeongin huffed and lifted his head to give him a look, like, _Isn’t it obvious?_

“Why are you back in fox form?” Hyunjin asked. So it wasn’t obvious, apparently.

Jeongin decided not to answer and instead went back to sleeping peacefully on the couch. Eventually Hyunjin would stop asking questions and just go with it. That’s what he usually did.

And Jeongin was right! Hyunjin did stop gawking at him and finally just sat down on the couch. He picked up his book and started reading. Or, tried to. Every once in awhile, Jeongin could literally _feel_ his eyes on him. At first Jeongin just ignored it, but Hyunjin’s gaze carried weight, especially when he did that _thing_ where he tried to stare into Jeongin’s head. Jeongin hated it when he did that, so he realized if he wanted to ignore his problems peacefully, he’d have to actually talk to Hyunjin.

With a sigh, Jeongin stretched out and shifted forms in the same movement. It was getting much easier for him to shift, now. He didn’t feel nearly as exhausted afterwards and could shift multiple times within a day with no problems at all.

For now, though, it just so happened that when he shifted into his human form, he ended up laying on his back and staring up at the ceiling, his head in Hyunjin’s lap.

Hyunjin blinked down at him, while Jeongin just pouted.

“I’m avoiding my problems,” Jeongin said.

“Okay,” Hyunjin said. “Same. But also—why?”

“Things were simpler when I was just a fox so I want to be a fox again. Bye bye.” With that, Jeongin shifted back into a fox.

Hyunjin once again blinked in surprise. “Wait, hold on. That just gave me more questions. Shift back!”

Jeongin did shift back, though he wasn’t happy about it. “What?” he demanded, looking up at Hyunjin.

“You can’t just shift back into a fox and expect it to solve all of your problems,” Hyunjin said.

“Why not?”

“Well, because—you just can’t.”

“Lame.” Jeongin made a face at him and shifted back into a fox.

Hyunjin sighed in annoyance. “Jeongin—”

This time, Jeongin refused to shift back and instead made himself quite comfortable with his head using Hyunjin’s thigh as a pillow while the rest of him stretched out across the couch. Yep, this was way better. Reminded Jeongin of some simpler, better times. Jeongin smiled to himself as he closed his eyes, prepared to fall back asleep.

But unfortunately Hyunjin was a little bit annoying at times.

“Hey.” Hyunjin shook his thigh a bit, causing it to jolt Jeongin’s head. “No—you are not falling asleep on my lap until you explain things.”

Jeongin made a noise of protest that came out somewhat like a growl, but Hyunjin wouldn’t sit still, making it incredibly difficult to fall asleep.

“Fine!” Jeongin shifted back into human form and sat up so he was nose-to-nose with Hyunjin. “What do you want?”

“Well, first of all, your shifting abilities have definitely improved,” Hyunjin said, making Jeongin roll his eyes. “Second—what problems are you avoiding, exactly?”

“If I tell you, will you let me shift back into a fox and sleep?”

“Yes. But I want a full explanation—not just one-word responses, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jeongin rolled his eyes again. “Basically, Felix’s trying to erase Woojin from the apartment by giving away all his things _and_ he’s planning on dumping the entire business on me while he runs off with his boyfriend when in reality I can barely take care of myself for one night so basically everyone’s abandoning me for their significant other. Also, we’ve been fighting a lot. Happy?”

“No, not happy,” Hyunjin said, his eyes wide. “That sounds awful, Innie.”

“I know, which is why I really just want to ignore it all and go back to pretending I just stayed as a fox this entire time and that nothing else ever happened.” Jeongin flopped back down onto the couch and curled up into a fetal position on his side, while he still used Hyunjin’s thigh as a pillow. He didn’t shift, though.

Hyunjin sighed. “You don’t like change, do you?”

Jeongin didn’t respond, mostly because Hyunjin was right.

“I’ll be honest— _no one_ likes change. Unless it’s change for the better, of course.” Hyunjin reached out and started running his fingers through Jeongin’s hair. It felt nice. Soothing. Jeongin could fall asleep like this. “You’re going through a lot of changes right now. I think it’s safe to say that your entire world has kind of been turned upside down. It helps to talk about it, though—”

“I _don’t_ want to talk about it,” Jeongin snapped. “I just want to ignore it and focus on something else. So can we please just…do that?”

Hyunjin was silent for a few moments before he said, “Okay. We can do that.”

“Thank you,” Jeongin said.

Silence fell again, during which Hyunjin kept running his fingers through Jeongin’s hair. Jeongin knew he hadn’t gone back to reading his book, though. He could still feel the weight of his stare.

After a few minutes, Hyunjin murmured, “Are you going to shift again?”

Jeongin paused for a moment before nodding.

“Okay.” Hyunjin almost sounded disappointed. He removed his hand. “Go ahead, then.”

“Can you read?” Jeongin asked.

“What?”

“Can you…read out loud to me?” When Hyunjin didn’t reply for a few moments, Jeongin quickly added, “It’s just…Woojin used to do that sometimes.”

“Oh,” Hyunjin said. “Um…I’m already a good chunk into this book, though…”

“That’s okay,” Jeongin said. “You don’t have to.”

“No, no, I’m actually not that far into it. I don’t mind starting over. I think you’ll like it a lot, so I’ll read from the beginning.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Jeongin could hear the smile in Hyunjin’s voice.

“Okay,” Jeongin whispered. “Thank you, Hyunjin.”

“Anything for you,” Hyunjin said.

Jeongin didn’t know how to respond to that, and apparently Hyunjin didn’t know what to say either. To prevent another awkward silence, Jeongin quickly shifted back into fox form. It was a bit uncomfortable resting his head on Hyunjin’s thigh for long periods of time, so he ended up climbing into Hyunjin’s lap and curling up there instead. He could tell it surprised Hyunjin, who went rigid for a few moments, unsure of where to put his hands. But eventually Hyunjin relaxed and rested one hand lightly on Jeongin’s back. Then he started reading to him.

Jeongin listened to some of it. Soon, his eyelids became heavy from the melodic sound of Hyunjin’s voice and from the feeling of Hyunjin’s hand resting on his back. He stopped fighting off the drowsiness and let himself doze off.

Later, when Hyunjin grew tired enough for bed, he yawned, marked their spot, and set the book aside. Then he scooped Jeongin up, careful not to jostle him but ended up doing it anyways. Jeongin opened his eyes for a few moments, just to process that he was currently being carried like a baby in Hyunjin’s arms. Usually he’d be annoyed, but right now, he was just content. So he closed his eyes again and drifted back to sleep.

He woke up again when Hyunjin crawled into bed next to him with a sigh. Out of habit, Jeongin snuggled up against him and tucked his head into the crook of Hyunjin’s neck. Then he fell back asleep once more, dreaming of a much simpler time.

*

This was…weird. Really weird.

For the life of him, Hyunjin could not see Jeongin the same way anymore. He couldn’t see him as just a fox. And he sure as hell couldn’t go back to letting Jeongin be his pet fox again. That just felt so _wrong_ deep down in Hyunjin’s gut that he couldn’t really think about it for longer than a couple seconds without getting physically nauseous.

Maybe it was because he had finally accepted that he was actually, literally _in love_ with Jeongin that he couldn’t just go back to the way things were before. Maybe it was because the two of them had already been through so much together that just pretending like Jeongin had never shifted in the first place seemed so…counterproductive.

Maybe Hyunjin was just stubborn. And ridiculously cowardly. Because he didn’t know _how_ to tell Jeongin that he wasn’t comfortable with the fox situation without confessing. And confessing was the last thing Hyunjin wanted to do after Jeongin had finally decided that the two of them were better off as friends.

That was Hyunjin’s fault. He knew that. He shouldn’t have rejected Jeongin. His excuse was that he hadn’t been ready and that he had needed closure from Chan first, but really, it came down to the fact that Hyunjin was just an awful person who didn’t deserve someone like Jeongin.

Or, that’s what he told himself when he lied awake at night, thinking only about Jeongin and then lamenting about how Jeongin wouldn’t love him back. What did he expect? He didn’t even _tell_ Jeongin that he didn’t want to just be friends anymore, once again because he had let Jeongin do the talking and hadn’t been brave enough to interrupt him.

But he supposed one of the reasons why he and Jeongin got along so well was because they both avoided their problems. Jeongin was avoiding facing the new changes to his apartment and bookstore, and Hyunjin was avoiding the issue of confessing to Jeongin.

What a pair they were.

That following morning, Hyunjin nudged Jeongin awake. Jeongin, of course, was still in fox form and whined at him and didn’t budge. Hyunjin sighed but said, “Hey. Jeongin. Wake up. You gotta go home.”

Jeongin whined again and didn’t move.

“Don’t make me pick you up,” Hyunjin said.

Jeongin snorted at that.

“Alright, I’m gonna pick you up, then. And you know once I do that, I’m not gonna be able to keep myself from giving you kisses. You know how much you hate kisses.”

Jeongin opened one eye at that, but then apparently thought Hyunjin wasn’t serious and closed it again.

Hyunjin shrugged. “Have it your way, then.” And he promptly scooped up Jeongin—who let out a surprised yelp—and then started kissing his fluffy little head.

Okay, so maybe Hyunjin could set aside how weird this was for a moment, because he _was_ a sucker for cute, cuddly animals. He usually couldn’t hold back from hugging and kissing them, so really, this was no different than kissing a cute dog or something.

Jeongin yelped again and squirmed and even pawed Hyunjin in the face to get him to stop. Hyunjin laughed but let him jump out of his arms and back onto the bed. He shifted mid-fall and landed in human form on the bed, furiously scrubbing at his face.

“Ew, it’s like you slobbered on me!” Jeongin whined.

“Aw, look, you’re just as cute and kissable in human form!” Hyunjin then tackled Jeongin to the bed and pretended to try to kiss him, though he knew Jeongin would punch him in the face the moment he got too close.

Right now, however, Jeongin just screamed and continued to squirm and fight his way out of Hyunjin’s grasp. “No kisses!” he yelled, his eyes squeezed shut tightly.

Hyunjin somehow managed to plant a fat kiss on Jeongin’s cheek, making Jeongin whine and complain again. Hyunjin grinned but decided that was enough teasing for now and let him go.

“Gross!” Jeongin was once again wiping off his face.

“Love you,” Hyunjin said with a grin.

“Ew!”

Hyunjin snorted and flopped back onto the bed. He watched as Jeongin continued to wipe at his face, thinking Jeongin really was the cutest thing on this planet. It made him sigh wistfully. It also made him want to hug Jeongin to his chest again and kiss his forehead and cheeks and nose and—eventually—lips, though he knew that would probably never happen.

He really should stop thinking about these things. He was just setting himself up for heartbreak. Like right now, his heart was sinking.

“I just wanted to sleep all day,” Jeongin whined, flopping back onto the bed so he was laying on his back next to Hyunjin. “Is that too much to ask?”

“You gotta get up and face your problems,” Hyunjin said, currently laying on his side, facing Jeongin. He should roll over. Stare at the ceiling. It would be easier.

And yet he stayed where he was. Because he was an idiot.

“My problems won’t get worse if I just take one day to relax and not think about them,” Jeongin retorted.

“One day will turn into two, which will then turn into three, and then suddenly a week has gone by and you’ve just made things worse,” Hyunjin said. “Trust me. Ignoring them and procrastinating doesn’t solve anything. It just makes it worse.”

He was living, breathing proof of that. A few weeks had gone by since they had gotten back from Australia and his feelings for Jeongin hadn’t subsided one bit. They had just intensified. And Hyunjin had just progressively gotten more stubborn about ignoring them, which then caused them to intensify even _more_.

It was a vicious cycle.

Jeongin sighed and rolled over so he was facing Hyunjin. Hyunjin blinked in surprise at the sudden close proximity. A few centimeters closer and their noses would touch.

And a few _more_ centimeters and their lips would—

Hyunjin jerked backwards and rolled onto his back.

“I want to just live as a fox again,” Jeongin said. “It’s just easier to sleep all day and to only care about food and walks and cuddles.”

Hyunjin didn’t say anything.

“But no, I have to run the bookstore.” Jeongin’s tone turned bitter. “Have to learn to read and how to deal with money and finances and _taxes_ and loans. Have to get rid of all of Woojin’s stuff and move on. What if I don’t want to move on?”

“Moving on doesn’t mean erasing him from your memory and pretending like he doesn’t exist,” Hyunjin said. “It just means that you acknowledge that he was here and that you loved him and that you’ll miss him, but that you’re not going to stop living your life.”

Oh, boy, was he a hypocrite.

“I guess I can deal with his stuff,” Jeongin said with a sigh. “I’ve been able to stop Felix from throwing everything out for now. But I don’t know how to deal with the bookstore.”

“What’s up with the bookstore?”

“I’m fine with working there for the short term, but Felix wants to leave soon, and that means he’ll dump all of the responsibilities of the business onto me. I don’t want to run a business! It’s boring! And stressful. But it was Woojin’s _life_. His legacy. I can’t just get rid of it!” Jeongin’s voice was suddenly small. “That’s an awful thing to do. I _feel_ awful.”

“You could always sell it, I suppose,” Hyunjin said.

“But that means selling the apartment above too,” Jeongin said. “And who knows if the new owner won’t completely destroy the place and turn it into a tattoo parlor or something?”

Hyunjin couldn’t help snorting. “A tattoo parlor? Seriously?”

“It was the first thing that popped into mind, okay!” Jeongin scowled without much heat. He sighed again a moment later. “I don’t know what to do, Hyunjin.”

“I don’t know what you should do either,” Hyunjin whispered. “You’ve come to the wrong person, unfortunately. I don’t even know what I want to do. I’m going to college just to go to college. I’m still an undeclared major. Just basically going with the flow and hoping I’ll figure out something soon.”

“You could go to college for business,” Jeongin piped up. “Then you could take over the business!”

“And what about you?” Hyunjin looked at him curiously. “Where will you be?”

“I’ll be sleeping all day in the apartment as your pet fox again.” Jeongin grinned.

Hyunjin tried to smile at that, but it didn’t really work. He ended up looking away again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jeongin’s smile fade too.

“Yeah…” Jeongin sighed. “I guess I really _don’t_ want that either.”

Hyunjin just squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

A few moments of silence passed before Jeongin spoke again.

“I just…I don’t want to live my life like Woojin did,” he said. “It sounds awful, I know, but I don’t want to wait until the last minute to get out and live a little. Especially since I don’t have as much time as I thought on Earth.”

“Fifteen years, right?” Hyunjin asked weakly.

“Yeah, around there,” Jeongin said.

“That’s not long at all, if you think about it,” Hyunjin said.

“I know,” Jeongin said. “It’s even shorter when you’ve been around for millions of years like me.”

Hyunjin couldn’t help snorting. “You’d think, for as long as you’ve been around, you’d be a little wiser.”

“I’m still considered young by Celestial Sphere standards,” Jeongin retorted. “And life up in the Celestial Sphere is much more different than down here, okay!” He huffed.

Hyunjin rolled over again to face him, his eyes wide. “Really? I had no idea!”

Jeongin made a face at him and shoved his face away. Hyunjin grinned. Genuinely, this time.

“No, but really.” Hyunjin smacked Jeongin’s hand out of his face. “Tell me about it. All you’ve told me is that it’s big and it’s lonely and that you can fade if you’re not careful.”

Jeongin sighed. “Well, all of that _is_ true…”

“Yeah, but there has to be _some_ good things about it, right?”

Jeongin thought for a moment. “Well…it’s not just big—it’s _enormous_. So much bigger than you can comprehend. And it’s beautiful. Really beautiful. So full of light…” he trailed off, still thinking. “All of that light is living to an extent, though. It all belongs to some sort of being. So all of the stars you see in the sky are alive and part of something greater. I think that’s kind of cool, to be honest.”

Hyunjin’s brow furrowed at that. He was always taught that the constellations weren’t actually right next to each other. The stars within them only _appeared_ to be right next to each other when in reality they could be millions upon millions of lightyears away from each other. To think that they were living, too…it was difficult to wrap his head around.

Though, ancient cultures had myths and stories about people and animals being placed in the sky. He supposed they weren’t all that far off from the truth.

“The beings who live up there don’t look like you,” Jeongin said. “They just look like orbs of light, I guess. They can change shape as they please. Some of them have humanoid figures. Some of them have animal figures. Some of them just like to be vaguely threatening blobs. But I always wanted to look humanoid because I wanted to _be_ human.”

“What do you do up there all day?”

“Watch, mostly. I loved watching the Earth. Loved watching humans.” Jeongin smiled softly, his eyes distant. “No one ever looked back, though.”

“I’ll look back,” Hyunjin found himself saying. “When you go back, I’ll always look for you. Keep you from fading.”

Jeongin’s eyes flicked up to meet his. Hyunjin almost looked away, but instead he decided to be a little less cowardly for once and held Jeongin’s gaze. The longer he stared, the more he could see little stars in Jeongin’s eyes. Constellations. Galaxies. The entire universe. He took Hyunjin’s breath away without even trying.

“Thanks, Hyunjin,” Jeongin said eventually. He gave a small smile.

“What are friends for?” Hyunjin said, giving a little laugh and immediately hating himself. He groaned and rolled over again before sitting up. “I need coffee.”

Jeongin didn’t say anything as Hyunjin got out of bed and walked away.

Once Hyunjin was out of the room, he calmly walked into the kitchen and over to the cabinets. Then he banged his head on the wood as if to knock some sense into him. He could have done it a lot harder, but that would have made a much louder noise, and he didn’t want Jeongin hearing. So he went about his normal routine and pulled out the coffee maker before reaching into the cabinet for his coffee grounds.

Upon opening up the bag of coffee, however, he discovered that it was emptier than he thought. He scraped the bottom of it and still only had enough for maybe one tablespoon, which wasn’t even enough for one cup of coffee.

Hyunjin groaned. Now he had to go out and get more.

Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea…he could go out, get coffee for himself and Jeongin, and then go from there. Plus it’d be nice to just step out and clear his head a bit.

Yeah. Okay. He’d go out and get coffee.

“Hey, I’m out of coffee, so I’m going to run out and get some more,” he said, poking his head back into the room. He sighed when he saw that Jeongin had shifted back into a fox and was currently curled up under the covers. “I was gonna ask if you wanted anything, but I guess I’ll just surprise you.”  
Jeongin made a sound that kind of sounded like, “Uh huh.”

“Be back in a bit!”

Jeongin didn’t bother responding to that.

Hyunjin just shrugged, grabbed his phone, wallet, and keys, and left the house.

*

The coffeeshop Hyunjin liked to frequent was just down the street and around the corner. It wasn’t a Starbucks or anything, but it had a nice, cozy atmosphere with big windows to look out onto the street. He always dreamed about going on a date here. He had taken Chan here once, but it hadn’t really been a _date_. It was just for a short visit.

Absent-mindedly, he wondered if Jeongin would like it. It wasn’t as busy and chaotic as other coffeeshops, so maybe Jeongin wouldn’t be too overwhelmed with it. They could sit in the cozy armchairs by the front windows and chat quietly to each other or even play checkers or chess on the nearby coffee table. Did Hyunjin know how to play chess? Not one bit! But he could learn.

He sighed to himself. This was getting to be ridiculous.

Though, to be fair, Hyunjin was always a bit ridiculous when it came to crushes and dates and romance in general.

He ordered his usual Americano and one of the shop’s signature coffee blends, then decided on some danishes, muffins, and coffee cake for breakfast. He also threw in a chai tea latte for Jeongin.

As he started to head out of the coffeeshop with his numerous drinks and pastries balanced in his arms, he glanced at the rest of the coffee drinkers in the shop, mostly out of habit. He stopped in his tracks when his eyes fell on one face in particular, sitting in the same exact armchair by the front windows that Hyunjin had been thinking of earlier.

Hyunjin was usually pretty shy about approaching people, especially in public, but for some reason he found himself walking towards that familiar face, his heart pounding out of his chest.

“Excuse me?” he said, making the person look up in surprise at him. Hyunjin smiled politely. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but are you Seo Changbin? The author?”

The man smirked. “Well, that’s a first. I think you’re the only person to ever recognize me in public.”

Hyunjin’s smile widened at that. “Really?”

“Really really. Which is fine with me—stops some crazy fans from attacking me.” The man—Seo Changbin—laughed at that, and Hyunjin decided that he liked him immediately. “What’s up?”

“Oh, not much, I just wanted to tell you that I love your books!” Hyunjin said. “Well, granted, I’ve only read one so far, but it’s really good! I want to read more!”

“Oh, really?” Changbin smiled. “Which one?”

“Neverending Story.”

Changbin’s smile widened. “Good choice.”

“Why, thank you.” Hyunjin gave a little laugh and Changbin laughed too.

“Do you want to sit down?” Changbin gestured to the empty chair near him. “Or do you have somewhere to rush off to?” He pointed at all of the pastries and drinks in Hyunjin’s arms.

“Oh, actually…” Hyunjin looked down at all of his things, made a split-second decision, and smiled. “I can sit for a bit.”

“Great!” Changbin smiled too.

“Honestly, I don’t usually read romance, but I’ve kind of hit a low with my own love live, so I needed ideas,” Hyunjin said with another awkward laugh as he sat down.

“Ideas?” Changbin was smirking now. “For what? Expressing yourself?”

“No, for confessing, I guess.” Hyunjin sighed. “I’ve really, _really_ messed up.”

“How so?”

“Well…”

All of a sudden Hyunjin found himself telling Changbin all about him and Jeongin’s story, though he left _some_ details out because he didn’t want to come across as some crazy lunatic who was in love with someone who _used_ to be his pet fox but learned to shape-shift and who was also the constellation Vulpecula. Yeah. That would just be…weird.

But he did tell him everything else. He told him about how he had just come out of a heartbreaking relationship when he met Jeongin, told him about how Jeongin had been in love with him since day one but that Hyunjin kept rejecting him, and then told him about how he got closure with his ex-boyfriend, caught a glimpse of true, unconditional love, and then figured out his feelings shortly after.

“But right when I got the guts to tell him that I actually _didn’t_ want to be friends anymore and that I was wrong for rejecting him so much, he came out of nowhere and said, ‘you know what, we’re better off as friends anyways! Let’s be friends!’ And then walked away all happy.” Hyunjin sighed and dropped his face into his hands.

“I’m guessing you didn’t confess, then,” Changbin said. Hyunjin would have thought that Changbin would look uncomfortable having a perfect stranger come up and tell him his whole life’s story, but instead, Changbin looked completely engrossed. He had even set aside his notebook and was sitting forward, listening intently. Hyunjin wondered if he had been a therapist at one point.

“Nope.” Hyunjin sighed. “I figured out I had missed my chance. Besides, I can’t tell him that I’ve suddenly developed feelings for him now. I rejected him over and over again…” He sighed again. “He deserves better.”

“Maybe,” Changbin admitted. “Or maybe you could make it up to him. Sometimes just confessing and telling someone your true feelings is enough. It’s personal and intimate between the two of you. But sometimes that’s _not_ enough, because it almost seems like a cop-out. In this case, I’d say you definitely need to confess, but before you do that, you need to find a way to make it up to him. Really prove that you love him by showing it.”

“I show love by physical affection, though,” Hyunjin said. “And he’s made it clear that he does _not_ want me hugging him or even kissing him on the head or anything. He says I’m gross and slobbery and usually shoves my face away. Which…is fair, I guess.”

“I think it’s safe to say that anyone would lean away if someone tried to kiss them out of nowhere,” Changbin said, smirking. “But…maybe that’s not how _he_ shows love. Like, maybe he likes thoughtful gifts or quality time or praise. I think if you figure out how he shows love, you can show it to him in the same way.”

Hyunjin blinked. Come to think of it, he never considered that people showed love in different ways. He always figured that physical affection was universal for everyone. But even before Australia, Jeongin rarely was the one to initiate physical affection. And whenever Hyunjin did it, Jeongin always seemed uncomfortable. Eventually he warmed up and did it back, but not nearly as often as Hyunjin did.

“So,” Changbin said, smiling at the thought processes playing out across Hyunjin’s face. “Figure out how _he_ shows love and then get back to me.”

“Will you be here?” Hyunjin asked, blinking.

“Oh, not usually, but I like this atmosphere.” Changbin looked around the coffeeshop. “I might be here every single day from eight to ten from now on. We’ll see.” With that, he winked at Hyunjin and picked up his notebook again.

“Thank you so much for your time,” Hyunjin said, gathering up his things and standing. It felt awkward just leaving, so he held out the pastry bag. “Would you like a pastry?”

“Oh, sure!” Changbin smiled and selected one of the muffins. “Thanks!”

“Thank you for listening to my life’s story and giving me honest advice,” Hyunjin said with a little laugh. “I know that was really weird, but I really appreciate it.”

“I’m happy to help,” Changbin said. “Though, I don’t know if I ever caught your name—?”

“Oh! It’s Hyunjin. Hwang Hyunjin. I’d shake your hand but I’m worried I’ll drop something.”

“Hyunjin,” Changbin repeated with a nod and a smile. “Until next time, then, Hyunjin!”

“Until next time!” Hyunjin grinned. “Bye!”

He left the coffeeshop feeling lighter than he had in weeks. There was hope for him and Jeongin—there really was! He just had to pull his head out of his own ass and actually think of Jeongin for once. What a concept.

Hyunjin shook his head at himself, but he was smiling. He could do this. For Jeongin, he’d do anything.

For now, though, he looked forward to a nice, relaxing breakfast with Jeongin, whom he hoped wasn’t too worried about where Hyunjin had been this entire time. He also hoped Jeongin would shift back into human form while they ate so they could actually have a conversation, but if Jeongin didn’t want to, then he wouldn’t force him.

As he stepped through the door of his apartment, he called out, “I’m back! Sorry I took so long, I saw an old friend and stopped to chat.” He slipped off his shoes and looked up.

The sliding glass door was open.

That usually meant—

Hyunjin hurried to the bedroom, hoping to see Jeongin still curled up on the covers.

But no. Jeongin wasn’t there. And he wasn’t out on the balcony, either.

So much for staying in fox form and sleeping all day.

With a sigh, Hyunjin trudged back to the kitchen, where he set all of their drinks and pastries on the counter.

He ate breakfast by himself.

*

Jeongin would have _loved_ to stay in and sleep all day, but a certain ray of sunlight kept blasting him in the face through the window in Hyunjin’s room. Usually that meant Jisung was trying to get his attention.

Sighing, Jeongin climbed out of bed and trotted to the sliding glass door. It was easy now for him to unlock it in fox form since he’d had so much practice, and soon he was slipping out onto the balcony.

“What?” Jeongin asked, looking up at the sky.

“Oh, you’re back into your fox phase. Huh,” Jisung said. “Felix’s is looking for you.”

Right. Jeongin hadn’t told Felix where he was going last night. Felix was probably worried sick.

“Thanks, Jisung,” Jeongin said, preparing to climb down the fire escape.

“No problem. So, are things weird now that Hyunjin knows you can shift? Does he see your fox form differently?”

“Bye, Jisung.”

“Oh, fine, be difficult.” But Jisung respected Jeongin’s mood and didn’t bug him again.

Felix was pacing in the living room when Jeongin came back. He whirled around the moment Jeongin pushed open the door, back in human form.

“Where have you _been_?” Felix demanded, rushing forward and grabbing Jeongin’s face in his hands. “I thought you ran off and _died_ or something!”

“I was at Hyunjin’s,” Jeongin said, a little annoyed at having his cheeks smushed like this.

“Oh! Hyunjin. Right.” Felix exhaled in relief and hugged Jeongin tightly.

“Told you,” Seungmin said from the kitchen.

“Shh.” Felix waved him off without looking at him. Then he stepped back from the hug and looked at Jeongin. “I was thinking we could take a break from going through Woojin’s stuff today and maybe open up the store again?”

Jeongin sighed but said, “Sure.”

Felix smiled and hugged him one more time. “Go get ready. Seungmin will help me open up the store. Just come down after you’ve showered and eaten. I could teach you some more things today too.”

“Sounds great,” Jeongin said half-heartedly.

Luckily, Felix didn’t notice his unenthusiastic response and instead just patted Jeongin on the back and let him go.

Work that day was…work. Seungmin hung around for a bit. Felix taught Jeongin some things about running a store. Jeongin just smiled and barely processed any of it. He could only think about how empty the store was and how a few weeks ago Hyunjin used to always come around just to keep Jeongin company. Jeongin used to love that. He still would love it, but he knew Hyunjin would probably not want to talk to him after Jeongin had left again that morning without saying goodbye.

Jeongin sighed from where he was behind the counter once again, bored out of his mind. He stared out the front windows, waiting…just waiting…

The jingling of the bell over the door snapped him out of it. He blinked in surprise as someone came in.

It was a young man, probably a few years older than him, dressed in a white t-shirt, black skinny jeans with chains hanging from the belt loops and pockets, and black boots. He also had on a pair of sunglasses—which Jeongin later learned were called Aviators—and didn’t take them off right away.

Just the sight of him made Jeongin shrink down. Despite the short statue, he was intimidating. The black hair and undercut didn’t help. Neither did the broad shoulders and huge muscles. He could probably pick Jeongin up and throw him through a window without breaking a sweat. Or he could snap Jeongin’s neck like a toothpick, or—

“Hi,” the man said, smiling at Jeongin.

“Hi,” Jeongin squeaked. He quickly cleared his throat and forced himself to say, “Welcome to Lost Stars. Anything I can help you with?”

“Yeah, actually.” The man walked forward and removed his sunglasses. “I’m looking for someone named Jeongin.”

And this was how Jeongin died, he decided.

“Um—” Jeongin started to say.

“Well, actually, now that I think of it, that’s kind of creepy to say.” The man smiled. It was a warm smile. Jeongin found himself confused by it. “My name’s Seo Changbin. I’m an old friend of the owner. I’m just here to check in on Jeongin because I know some things have been…rough, lately.”

Jeongin blinked at him. “You’re Changbin?”

“You know of me?” Changbin smiled again. When Jeongin nodded, that smile widened. “I’m guessing _you’re_ Jeongin, then.”

“Yeah,” Jeongin said. “That’s me.” He gave a small, awkward laugh and cringed at himself.

“Wow, Woojin wasn’t kidding when he said you’re adorable.” Changbin beamed up at him, his eyes sparkling, his face practically radiating warmth. Jeongin felt all of his nerves fade away, and he slowly started to relax. “Woojin talked a lot about you! I’m honestly surprised we never met. Guess we were both just too busy, huh?”

“I guess,” Jeongin said with a smile.

“I wish we could have met under better circumstances,” Changbin said. “I heard about Woojin. At least he’s in a better place.”

“Yeah,” Jeongin said, even though he hated talking about Woojin as though he were dead. He wasn’t, but he couldn’t tell an ordinary human that.

“At least he’s back in the Sphere with Chan,” Changbin said.

“Yeah,” Jeongin said, only to realize what Changbin said. “Wait, what?” He gaped at Changbin, who just smirked at him from where he had leaned on one forearm on the counter. “How do you know about that?”

“How do I know?” Changbin snorted. “Who do you think I am, some ordinary human?”

When Jeongin just blinked at him, Changbin rolled his eyes.

“Wow, I guess Woojin never said a thing about me, huh?”

“He mentioned you were a famous author,” Jeongin admitted. “And that you were a good, dear friend.”

“Well, that’s something, I suppose.” Changbin straightened up and gave a little bow. “I’m Orion. And you’re Vulpecula, from what I’ve heard.”

“Orion?” Jeongin repeated. “The Hunter?”

“I never really hunted, but that’s what the humans decided I did for a living, so yes.” Changbin smiled.

“And now you’re a romance novelist,” Jeongin said.

“It sounds pathetic, but I really enjoy it.” Changbin leaned on the counter again. “I’m a lover, not a fighter. I create instead of destroying.”

“Wow,” Jeongin said.

“I know. I’m kind of a big deal.”

“You kind of seem full of it.”

“That too.” Changbin winked at him, then laughed and waved the thought aside. “I’m just messing with you. But, in all seriousness, how are you doing?” His face turned more serious, more concerned, but it didn’t lose that warmth at all.

Jeongin found himself smiling. “I’m okay, I guess. Hanging in there.”

“Are you running this whole store by yourself now?”

“No, Felix is still here.”

“Felix!” Changbin smiled. “I haven’t seen him in a hot minute. How’s he doing?”

“Fine, I guess.” Jeongin sighed. “It just seems like he’s in a hurry to move on.”

“Maybe that’s just how he copes,” Changbin said.

“Maybe,” Jeongin admitted. He sighed. “Honestly, we’ve been fighting a lot. I know he cares a lot but it’s just…it’s been hard.”

“I’m here to help in whatever way I can,” Changbin said, reaching out to put a hand on Jeongin’s shoulder.

Jeongin couldn’t help snorting. “Want to run this store for me?”

“Sick of it already, huh?”

“Yeah, I’m just…running a business was Woojin’s dream, not mine.”

“So what’s yours, then?”

“You’ll laugh at me.” But Jeongin smiled anyways.

Changbin grinned. “Aw, come on, Jeongin, we go back a whole five minutes. How could I laugh?”

“Well, come to think of it, I guess you of all people would understand.”

“I don’t really know what that means but sure. I will try to understand.”

Jeongin sighed and glanced away, a bit shyly, as he said, “My dream is to fall in love with someone and to have a romance like Woojin and Chan.”

“Awww.” Changbin put a hand to his chest.

“But without the amnesia, I guess.” Jeongin frowned.

“Understandable,” Changbin said. “You know Woojin met Chan in a library though, right? And you work in a bookstore. So…” He grinned and nudged Jeongin playfully. “You never know.”

Jeongin snorted. “I met my best friend in a bookstore, does that count?”

“Well if that’s the kind of love you’re looking for, then yes.” Changbin smiled.

“Actually, I was in love with him for a really long time.”

“Really?” Changbin’s face seemed to light up at that. Apparently he was a sucker for any kind of romance story, real or fictional. Jeongin couldn’t help snorting.

“Really,” Jeongin said. “But he didn’t feel the same way. He rejected me over and over again. You’d think I’d get the hint, but no, I was hopelessly, stupidly in love with him.” He rolled his eyes at himself.

“First loves are like that,” Changbin said. “I’d even say that they’re the most painful and difficult to get over. Are you still getting over it?”

“I thought I _was_ over it, but…I don’t think I am.” Jeongin sighed. “It sucks that we’re still really close. I told him that I was fine with us just being friends and he seemed okay with it too, so I guess that’s how our friendship survived. But I’m starting to think that these feelings are never gonna fade completely.”

“But you can’t tell him how you feel, huh?”

“I have. That’s when he rejected me and said he could never see me like that. It kinda stung.”

“Kinda? That would destroy me, what are you talking about?”

“I guess I’m tougher than you, then.”

Changbin gasped and shoved his shoulder, pretending to be offended. Jeongin grinned.

“Wow, insulting someone you just met.” Changbin shook his head. “The _audacity_. You should make it up to me by offering me tea and cookies, just because that’s what Woojin always did.” He smiled.

“I would love to invite you upstairs for tea and cookies, but unfortunately we’re still open for three more hours, and the upstairs is a mess.” Jeongin gave him an apologetic look.

Changbin shrugged. “I can wait. Keep you company. And a little mess isn’t gonna scare me.”

“No, it’s a serious mess. Felix decided to gut Woojin’s room and take it all to the living room to sort through.”

“There’s that much stuff to go through? He never seemed like someone to have that much stuff. He seemed like a minimalist to me.”

“It turns out he’s really good at hiding things.”

“Makes sense.” Changbin shrugged again. “Good at hiding things like tea and cookies and feelings.”

Jeongin snorted. “Yep, that’s our Woojinnie.”

Changbin smirked. “So, tell me more about this best friend of yours?”

Jeongin sighed but ended up telling Changbin his entire one-sided love story with Hyunjin. He left out Hyunjin’s name, of course, but told Changbin about how he was the first human Jeongin ever met back when he was a fox, how he had taken him home, and how it had just been the two of them for such a long time. Then he told Changbin about how Hyunjin had started dating the vet, who was ironically named Bang Chan—

“Wait, hold on.” Changbin held up a hand, frowning. “Bang Chan? Like, Woojin’s Bang Chan?”

“Yep, that’s the one,” Jeongin said, smirking. “Small world, right?”

“Honestly.” Changbin snorted. “Anyways, go on.”

Jeongin then told him about how Hyunjin and Chan were close for several months and how Jeongin was infinitely jealous about being reduced to second. But then he talked about the breakup and how Jeongin felt like he was losing his mind and how he ended up running away after tearing open Hyunjin’s hand.

“Wow,” Changbin said, staring at him, wide-eyed. “That’s one crazy story.”

“That’s just the beginning,” Jeongin said.

“It _is_?” Changbin gaped at him. “Okay, hold on, then.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a tiny notebook and pen. He flipped to a new page and glanced up at Jeongin. “Would you be offended if I took notes while you talk? I’m getting all kinds of ideas for a new story.”

“Go ahead.” Jeongin smiled. “As long as you just don’t use my real name in your story.”

“Deal,” Changbin said, smiling. “Don’t worry, I’ll put you in the dedication and the acknowledgements.”

“Aw, thank you!”

“Now, go on.”

“Right. Where was I? Oh, yeah—”

So then Jeongin met Woojin, who taught him how to shift and took him in.

“Did he do that for you, too?” Jeongin asked Changbin.

“Nope—never had an animal form,” Changbin said. “I went straight to this bomb-ass body.”

“Oh,” Jeongin said.

He went on to say that while he loved being around someone just like him, he still missed Hyunjin in those few months apart. Not to mention how the guilt was slowly eating away at him.

“But then you met this guy in person,” Changbin said. “Who’s name you _still_ won’t give me.”

Jeongin sighed. “His name’s Hyunjin.”

Changbin choked. “Hyunjin?”

“Yeah.”

“His surname doesn’t happen to be _Hwang_ , does it…?”

Jeongin frowned. “It is. Why do you ask? Do you know him?”

“I might have crossed paths with him at some point in the past.” Changbin shrugged. “Sounds familiar. Anyways. You met Hwang Hyunjin again in human form!”

“I did,” Jeongin said, sighing. “Right here, actually. I was so embarrassed when he came in that I hid behind this counter and pretended I was looking for something that I dropped.”

Changbin snorted. “Oh, Jeongin…”

“I was shy and scared, okay!”

“Good thing you’re cute. Anyways.”

“Anyways,” Jeongin sighed.

Seeing Hyunjin again just made him miss him more, so he shifted back into a fox and went back to Hyunjin’s apartment. Long story short, he kept going back each night until one day he lost control of his abilities and shifted right in front of Hyunjin.

“Oh! The drama,” Changbin said. “Did you freak out?”

“Yes,” Jeongin said in a small voice.

“Did you worry that he wouldn’t love you for you and think that he’d see you as some sort of freak?”

“Yes…” Jeongin gave Changbin a weird look. “How did you know?”

“Common plot,” Changbin said with a wave of his hand. “Used all the time. Anyways, it turned out that he loved you unconditionally anyways and you all lived happily ever after.”

Jeongin snorted. “I wish. He was fine with it, but that’s when he first rejected me. He loved me ‘as a friend’.” He made air quotes with his fingers.

“Oof,” Changbin said.

“Yeah, _oof_.” Jeongin sighed again. “We stayed friends, thankfully.”

“But you were _in love_.”

“I was, yeah. We stayed friends for awhile, but then Woojin got sick.”

“Ah, yes, rising tensions,” Changbin said. “Raise the stakes. Time crunch. All of a sudden it gets _personal_ and suddenly it’s a matter of life or death.”

“Stop it with your writer commentary.”

“Sorry. A habit.”

Jeongin then told him about Australia and how they discovered Woojin’s past and his tragic romance with Chan.

“But that’s when I realized that I didn’t want to force it,” Jeongin said. “If Hyunjin never loved me more than a friend, then I wouldn’t force him. I decided to let go and just love him as a friend. I thought that I’d find the person I’m meant to be with.”

“And he was okay with that,” Changbin said, his eyebrows set in a straight line.

“Well, yeah. That’s what he wanted.”

“Uh huh, yeah, obviously.” Changbin was smiling to himself as he scribbled down more notes.

Jeongin frowned at that and tried to look at what he was writing, only for Changbin to close the notebook. Jeongin pouted at that.

“Wow!” Changbin said. “What a story! Can’t wait to see how it ends!”

Jeongin snorted. “You and me both. What ending would you give it, if this was your story?”

“Well…” Changbin sighed as he thought for a moment. “I’d definitely give it a happy ending. All of my romances have happy endings, because otherwise what’s the point, you know? Though, I do have a style—at one point in the story, one of the lovers always has to prove themselves to the other. They have to prove their love, I suppose. It’s very dramatic. I love it.”

“So…I have to prove myself?” Jeongin said. “Is that what you’re saying?”

Changbin shrugged, still smirking to himself like he knew something Jeongin didn’t. “Yes.”

“But how? I’ve already proved to Hyunjin that I love him. I literally _told_ him.”

“How recently?”

“Back in Australia.”

“Before or _after_ you friendzoned each other?”

“Before…”

“Mm, so he doesn’t know that now, does he?” Changbin smirked.

Jeongin blinked. “No…I guess not…”

“Might want to tell him again,” Changbin said. “Or, find another way to tell him. Maybe find a better way that he’ll interpret as romantic and not just platonic.”

“Like kiss him?”

“Well, I wouldn’t go _that_ far just yet. How does Hyunjin show love?”

Jeongin sighed. “Well, he’s very…affectionate. And cuddly. He loves hugging and cuddling and holding hands and stuff. This morning he even tried to kiss me all over my face, which was _gross_.” He made a face, while Changbin just smirked. “But that’s just how he shows love to everyone, even his friends. It’s not special.”

That was exactly the thing that used to crush him the most when he was still in love with Hyunjin. Especially since Hyunjin did it unconsciously and wasn’t aware in the slightest of the effect it had on Jeongin.

“And how do _you_ show love, Jeongin?” Changbin asked.

“I guess…” Jeongin sighed as he thought about it. “I guess with physical affection, to an extent. And I love spending time together. But for me…I think it’s verbally. If in some perfect world, Hyunjin told me everything he really felt and told me exactly what he loved about me, it would feel much truer than him just hugging me.”

“Good to know,” Changbin said. “For the story, obviously.”

“Right,” Jeongin said with a smile. “For the story.”

Changbin smiled at him and slipped his notebook back into his pocket. “Well. Thank you for telling me that lovely story, Jeongin. I was glad to hear it.”

“Send me the book when you’re done, yeah?”

“Of course! I’ll send you and Hyunjin special, _signed_ copies.”

Jeongin snorted. “Do you think writing a book and giving it to Hyunjin would be a good way to prove myself?”

“Well, perhaps, but writing a book and publishing it can be a long process,” Changbin said. “Up to a couple years, sometimes.”

“Oh,” Jeongin said. “I don’t want to wait that long. I can’t even read, to be honest. Never learned.”

“Want me to teach you?”

“That would be great! Can you teach me it all right now?”

“Well, first you owe me a cup of tea and some cookies.”

“Right.” Jeongin checked the clock. “We could always close early…Felix and Woojin aren’t here to yell at me. So, we’ll close up early.”

“Such a rebel,” Changbin said.

“I know, right?”

He hurried to close the store, then led Changbin upstairs to the apartment, where Changbin stood in the doorway and gaped at the mess.

“Wow,” he said. “You really weren’t kidding.”

“Nope!” Jeongin said, picking his way across the living room to the kitchen. “What kind of tea do you want?”

“Do I get to chose from Woojin’s super special tea box?”

“Yep!”

Changbin gasped. “No way!”

Jeongin laughed at that. They spent the rest of the evening together, drinking tea, eating cookies, and chatting. Even when it grew late and Changbin had to go, Jeongin felt like he had known him for ages. He couldn’t wait to see him again.

For now, though, he shifted back into a fox and headed for Hyunjin’s apartment.

*

Hyunjin honestly didn’t expect to see Jeongin back so soon, but he supposed this _was_ part of Jeongin’s routine back when he was still a fox. Shift, stay the night, and leave in the morning so he could carry on his human life. He should have been prepared for this.

Except, this time, Jeongin shifted back into a human when Hyunjin opened the door for him and went right over to the couch. He flopped down and made himself comfortable. “Where’d we leave off?” he asked, meaning the book Hyunjin had read from last night.

“I don’t know,” Hyunjin said, walking over to the couch. “I think you fell asleep before I stopped reading. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Mm, I think they just met for a second time?” Jeongin furrowed his brow as he tried to remember.

“Oh, so not too far back.” Hyunjin sat down and picked up the book. Jeongin immediately scooted closer and put his head on Hyunjin’s shoulder. Hyunjin wrapped his arm around Jeongin without really thinking about it. It just felt…natural.

Jeongin didn’t stiffen or pull away, so that was something.

“What’d you do all day?” Hyunjin asked as he flipped to their spot in the book.

“Ran the store,” Jeongin said. “One of Woojin’s old friends stopped by. We ended up talking for hours, just catching up.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” Jeongin smirked. “I tried to get him to take over the store. He just laughed.”

Hyunjin snorted. “Worth a shot.”

“Yeah, honestly.” Jeongin snuggled into Hyunjin’s shoulder. “What’d you do?”

“Looked up all the different types of hobbies out there. Just to get an idea of what I want to do.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I might try doing photography.” Hyunjin looked down at Jeongin. “Wanna be my model?”

“Only if you’re nice to me,” Jeongin said.

“When am I never _not_ nice?”

“You’re mean all the time.”

“Lies.” Hyunjin shook his head, but he was grinning. “Such _lies_.”

“I wouldn’t think you’d want to try something that had to do with the modeling industry,” Jeongin said. “You hated modeling.”

“I loved the artistry of it, though,” Hyunjin said, his eyes distant as he thought back to his time as a model. It had been hell, yes, but there had to have been _something_ that kept him there for as long as it did. Well, other than the pay of course. “I think I liked the idea that clothes and makeup allow people to express themselves. Make them love themselves a bit more if they’re wearing something that they really think suits them. I dunno. It’d be fun to be in control of the whole thing.”

“I’ll be your model,” Jeongin said sleepily.

He looked so cute, with his slightly mussed, light blond hair (it used to be pink, but that had long since faded) and his droopy eyes. Not to mention the beautiful curves of his face, sculpted so perfectly and gracefully, or the thick eyelashes, or slightly wider, narrow mouth. He had such a unique face. Hyunjin wanted to capture it from every single angle.

Which was why he pulled out his phone and snapped a quick photo of Jeongin right then and there. Jeongin heard the shutter and looked up at him curiously.

“Sorry,” Hyunjin said, blushing a bit. He showed Jeongin the picture. “You just…looked really cute.”

“I do look cute in that picture,” Jeongin agreed.

Hyunjin couldn’t help laughing. He ruffled Jeongin’s hair. Usually Jeongin would be annoyed by that, but for now, he grinned anyways as Hyunjin set his phone aside and turned back to the book.

“Alright, where were we?” Hyunjin said. “Here we go.” He began to read again. Jeongin dropped his head onto his shoulder once more, smiling as he listened to Hyunjin’s voice. Eventually his smile faded as he became sleepier, just like last night, and soon his eyes drifted closed. Hyunjin watched him out of the corner of his eye, unable to keep himself from smiling softly. There were some moments where he looked at Jeongin and felt his heart swell and swell to the point where it felt like it was going to burst. This was one of those moments. Hyunjin wished it would never end.

When Jeongin was fast asleep, Hyunjin stopped reading, marked their spot, and set the book aside. Then he murmured to Jeongin, “Time for bed, I think.” Jeongin didn’t stir, so Hyunjin kissed the top of his head and scooped him up, bridal-style. He carried him to bed, where he tucked him in.

“Goodnight, Jeongin,” he whispered, kissing Jeongin on the forehead. “Sleep well.”

Then he withdrew and went to get ready for bed himself.

*

“Alright.” Hyunjin slid into the chair perpendicular to Changbin’s chair at the coffeeshop the next morning. “I think I’ve figured out what I’m going to do to impress Jeongin.”

“Jeongin, hmm?” Changbin was smirking to himself as he scribbled something in his notebook. “I don’t think you ever mentioned his name yesterday.”

Hyunjin’s eyes went wide at that. “Oh, I didn’t, did I? Well…his name is Jeongin.”

“Nice to know. So.” Changbin finished writing and closed his notebook. He looked up at Hyunjin with a smile. “What’s your plan? Did you figure out how he expresses love?”

“No,” Hyunjin admitted. “But I’ve been interested in photography lately, and I asked him if he would model for me. So, I was thinking, we could go out one day, maybe go to the botanical gardens or down by the river or to an arcade or something—really aesthetically pleasing places—and I could use that photography excuse to spend time with him and take his picture. Then I was thinking I could put all of those pictures together and give it to him in one huge photo album and write little notes about what I loved about each picture. _Then_ at the end of the photo album is one huge love letter that compiles it all and clearly states, _I love you not as a friend_. And if he doesn’t get _that_ , well, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I think I’ll probably just give up. And cry. And be forever alone.”

Changbin nodded slowly, thinking about it. “That would be very romantic, I’ll admit. The photo album, I mean. Not the part about being forever alone. That’s kind of sad, actually.”

“Is it too cheesy?” Hyunjin couldn’t help wringing his hands nervously. “It sounds like something I’d make fun of heterosexual couples for doing.”

“Yeah but since it’s gay, it’s cute,” Changbin said with a smirk. “Are you sure the letters are a good idea?”

“Yeah,” Hyunjin said. “Honestly if you didn’t think the photo album idea was a good one, then my back-up plan was to just write him a really heartfelt letter.”

“And giving it to him in person, right? Not just mailing it to him?”

“Right, though I _did_ think about hiding little notes around his apartment and store and make it sound like he has a secret admirer, but I figured either Felix would find them or Jeongin would figure out it was me but think it was a joke or something.” Hyunjin sighed. “I literally spent all of yesterday brainstorming ideas.”

Changbin smiled. “Love letters are sweet, yes, but they’re almost like a cop-out. To me it seems like you’re not brave enough to tell him everything to his face, so you’re taking the easy way out. Unless, of course, you give it to him and then read it out loud. That would make it more personal, I think.”

“I’m not brave enough to do that,” Hyunjin said, his chest tightening at the thought of having to look at Jeongin while he basically bared his heart and soul to him. He hadn’t even done that when he was with Chan. Sure, he said little _I love you’_ s here and there, but he never really gave huge monologues about how Chan made his heart beat a little bit faster whenever he saw him and how he made Hyunjin’s entire existence better and so on. He was honestly terrified that Jeongin would take Hyunjin’s overly-dramatic, romantic expression as a joke and laugh at him. That would completely destroy him.

“You’re not even brave enough to do it for Jeongin?” Changbin asked.

Hyunjin shook his head.

“Hmm,” Changbin said. He was silent for a few moments as he thought. Then he said, “Well, I think the photo album is a good idea. And so is spending time with each other. But if you’re not going to read the letter out loud, then you’ll have to at least just tell him how you truly feel when you give the album to him. Don’t make him figure it out by himself. Just…tell him.”

Hyunjin nodded, taking a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I can do that.”

“Yes you can!” Changbin grinned and shoved Hyunjin’s shoulder playfully. “I believe in you.”

“Well, that makes one of us.”

*

Jeongin was back in the apartment, trying to finally sort through everything while Felix ran the store downstairs. Felix had turned into some sort of strict parent or something and had sternly said this morning, “No seeing Hyunjin until you finish going through Woojin’s stuff. I mean it!”

Jeongin had retaliated by saying, “Well, fine, then no seeing Seungmin until I finish this.”

“Doesn’t work that way,” Felix had said, and had left it at that. Jeongin had rolled his eyes and had had to restrain himself from chucking something at Felix’s head.

At least Jeongin wasn’t completely on his own. He had the window open so he could talk to Jisung while he worked.

“Y’know, sometimes I think, being a human sounds like the best thing in the world,” Jisung said. “But then I see all the maintenance you guys have to do—like going to the bathroom every few hours and having to scrub your teeth and taking _showers_ —and I think, I’m just too lazy for that.”

“You get used to it,” Jeongin said.

“I guess the only reason I’d _really_ want to become a human is so I can just experience what a hug is like,” Jisung said.

Jeongin stopped sorting to look out the window at him. “Aw, Jisung—”

“They look so warm, and I’m the literal embodiment of warmth, and yet I’ve never had a human hug. There’s something _wrong_ with that statement.”

Jeongin snorted and went back to sorting. Luckily, he was making some progress. It was much easier for him to just sit and study something and really contemplate if he needed it or not, all without Felix telling him to just throw it away. He was slow, yes, but he was getting there.

“I wonder if Minho has ever thought about being human,” Jisung said. “I think, out of all the beings in the universe I’d turn human for, it’d be him. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to just…touch him.”

Jeongin stopped sorting to look up at Jisung again, his eyes wide.

“He’s always cold, and I’m always hot, so would hugging each other finally cool me down and warm him up?” Jisung wondered aloud. “I don’t know, that sounds nice.”

“You could always wish…” Jeongin began, only to trail off. Could Jisung really wish to be human?

“No, I don’t think that’s possible,” Jisung said sadly. “We need the sun and the moon, you know? I can’t just disappear like that.”

“You never know,” Jeongin said. “My constellation isn’t there anymore because I’m not that powerful, but you and Minho are some of the most powerful in this part of the Celestial Sphere. You won’t disappear completely if you decide to be human for one day.”

“That’s true…” Jisung said thoughtfully. “I guess I can always dream!”

Jeongin smiled at that.

At that moment, the front door opened. Jeongin looked up, expecting to see Felix or Seungmin or even Changbin. Instead, he saw Hyunjin.

“Did Felix let you come up?” Jeongin asked, blinking.

“No, I went in through the side door by the alleyway,” Hyunjin said, walking over to Jeongin. “Why? Are you grounded or something?”

“Of sorts,” Jeongin admitted with a sigh. “He said I wasn’t allowed to see you until I finished going through Woojin’s stuff.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said there was a lot to sort,” Hyunjin said. He gave a low whistle as he looked around at the disaster in the living room. “Want some help?”

Jeongin perked up. “That would be great! Just don’t act like Felix and tell me I have to throw everything away.”

Hyunjin smiled. “I’ll try not to.”

It turned out that Hyunjin was _much_ better company to sort things with than Felix. He didn’t rush Jeongin in the slightest and instead asked Jeongin why he thought he should keep something whenever Jeongin was having difficulty deciding. He also brought up points like, “Is this something that you’ll never be able to find anywhere else again?” or “Will you ever really touch it again or are you just too afraid to part with it? or “Does this spark joy?”

“What?” Jeongin couldn’t help smirking up at him. “Does it spark joy? What does that mean?”

“Oh, just a Marie Kondo reference,” Hyunjin said, waving the thought aside. “Honestly it might be helpful to watch her Netflix show while we do this. But we can do that later. Right now—what are your thoughts on this old planner of his?”

By the end of the day, they had completely gone through all of Woojin’s things. Jeongin had mixed feelings looking at the now-overflowing donation box, but for the most part, he was relieved. After they donated these things, he could finally breathe and relax. The impossible task was no longer hanging over him.

“Thanks for helping me, Hyunjin,” Jeongin told Hyunjin as they sat at the kitchen table for snacks and tea. “I could have done it without you, but it would have taken me a lot longer and I definitely would have been more stressed. So, thank you.” He smiled at him.

Hyunjin smiled back and patted Jeongin’s hand. “Happy to help. Now you’re free!”

Jeongin laughed. “Yeah, sorta. Still have to decide what to do with the store. But for now I can just…relax.”

“Can I offer some suggestions?” Hyunjin asked.

“Sure.”

“I was thinking we could go out sometime and go to the botanical gardens for a photoshoot.” Hyunjin’s smile had turned shy. He looked down at his tea. “It’s a really beautiful area. Then after that we could go get some food or finally go to the arcade or do whatever else you want to do in the city.”

Jeongin blinked at him, surprised at the sudden invitation.

“I know Woojin never really let you go out and explore the city, but since you’ve gotten much more relaxed around people, I figured it would be alright.” Hyunjin glanced up at Jeongin for his reaction before his eyes darted back down to his tea. “Just a thought.”

“That sounds nice,” Jeongin said. He smiled. “I’d like that.”

Hyunjin looked up, his eyes wide and hopeful. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Jeongin shrugged. “After all, I’ve gone to an entirely different country and didn’t have a nervous breakdown. Going into the city is _nothing_. Easy peasy.”

“Easy peasy,” Hyunjin echoed with a little giggle.

Jeongin couldn’t help giggling too. “Why did you say it like that?”

“Say it like what?” Hyunjin giggled again.

The conversation diverged to meaningless things soon after, full of them staring at each other and giggling. It was nice, to just sit together and talk about nothing at all and to just feel…calm. Relaxed. Jeongin thought that Hyunjin was probably the only person he had ever felt this with. It made him grateful for him all over again.

“You’re still coming over to my apartment, right?” Hyunjin asked after a bit.

“Or you could just stay here,” Jeongin said.

“But we don’t have the book here.”

Jeongin gave Hyunjin a look. “Hyunjin. There’s an entire bookstore downstairs.”

“Oh.” Hyunjin giggled again. “Do I have to pay for it?”

“What kind of a business would we be if we gave away our books for free?”

Hyunjin pouted at Jeongin, who mimicked his expression back at him. They stayed like that for a few moments before Hyunjin said, “Actually, I think I saw that Woojin had a copy of it.”

“Oh, I bet he does.” Jeongin watched as Hyunjin jumped up and went over to the save pile. He rummaged through the books for a moment before letting out a triumphant, “AHA!” and running back over to Jeongin.

“I knew I had seen it somewhere,” Hyunjin said, holding up the copy of the same book. “Now I just have to remember where we left off…”

They ended up ordering Chinese food and crashing on the couch together with the book. After eating, Jeongin put his head in Hyunjin’s lap like usual, and Hyunjin ran his fingers through Jeongin’s hair. Jeongin wasn’t as sleepy this time, so he just stared up at Hyunjin as he read aloud.

He was thinking. Thinking about what Changbin said, about how Hyunjin showed love through physical affection. Thinking about all the cuddles and innocent reasons to touch. Thinking about how Hyunjin liked to run his fingers through Jeongin’s hair and kiss his head and carry him to bed. Thinking about how Jeongin really didn’t mind all the touching at all.

He sighed a bit too loudly, making Hyunjin pause and look down at him.

“You okay?” Hyunjin asked.

“Yeah,” Jeongin said. “Just…tired.”

“You can sleep. I don’t mind.”

“Are you going to stay the night?”

“Do you want me to?”

Jeongin nodded.

Hyunjin smiled. “Okay. I’ll stay.”

Jeongin smiled back. Hyunjin paused from running his fingers through Jeongin’s hair to boop Jeongin on the nose, which in turn made Jeongin wrinkle his nose up at him. Hyunjin grinned before he went back to reading like they hadn’t stopped in the first place.

Jeongin found himself smiling up at him.

Yeah. He had really never stopped being in love with Hyunjin.

*

The following day, the two of them woke up together, got ready together, and ate breakfast together. They took their time, preferring not to rush, and eventually headed out to the city right around eleven o’clock. It took them around a half an hour or so to walk to the station and ride the train that would take them to the botanical gardens. Hyunjin kept an eye on Jeongin’s expressions the entire time, watching carefully for any sign that Jeongin was getting overwhelmed or scared. Jeongin caught him watching a few times and just smiled and bumped his shoulder with his own. That made Hyunjin relax a bit.

It was a beautiful day out. The gardens were busy, but not overly crowded. The two of them discovered that they could go their own way without being overwhelmed by other people. At first, they just strolled through the gardens, where Jeongin looked around with a wide grin on his face, like he had never seen something so beautiful. He even remarked to Hyunjin that he had never seen so much green in his life, not since his short time in that forest. Hyunjin just smiled at that, more focused on Jeongin than the gardens.

In his opinion, the gardens were pretty, especially with all their different types of plants and creative landscaping and quaint swings and wishing wells and hidden paths, but Jeongin was a much more breathtaking sight.

Eventually, Hyunjin pulled out his phone and started snapping pictures of Jeongin, this time making sure that the shutter sound was off. He wanted to get candid photos of Jeongin, so he could show just how beautiful Jeongin was in his eyes. He got quite a few amazing photos, like of Jeongin leaning over the edge of a railing on a small bridge, grinning at the ducks in the pond down below, or of him looking up at the trees that arched overhead, or of him climbing up a secret path made out of boulders that were designed to blend into the rest of the landscaping.

At one point, though, Jeongin caught on and asked if he should do any poses or anything. Hyunjin just smiled and told him to act normally. He’d find a way to get the shots he wanted. Jeongin complied, though at one point he caught Hyunjin sneaking a photo and deliberately made a silly expression. They both laughed at that.

Once they finished walking around the gardens, they headed down the street. Jeongin saw a hot dog stand and immediately wanted one, though Hyunjin complained that he always wanted hot dogs and that he should try another type of street food. Jeongin pouted at that, but Hyunjin wasn’t going to fall for it this time.

They ended up getting the damned hot dogs.

They found a small park in the center of an intersection, full of trees and small tables for people to sit and people-watch or chat or eat. They sat there for a bit, doing just that, when Jeongin asked about the tiny boxes in the sky. Hyunjin didn’t know what he meant.

“You know,” Jeongin said. “You can see them from the river and on the train. They go up in the air on these wires. I think they have people in them.”

“Oh, the gondolas?”

“Yes! Those. Can we go on those sometime?”

Who was Hyunjin to say no?

The gondolas started from the edge of the river, where the river fed into the ocean. Then they went up and over the water, to the top of a small mountain. On top of the mountain was a little town of sorts, full of tourist shops and tiny restaurants and great views. There was also a train station, at which visitors could choose to ride to the base of the mountain. Or they could always go to back on the gondola.

Hyunjin had only done it once with his family, but he remembered enjoying it.

“The floor is see-through glass,” he told Jeongin as they got in line at the gondola station to buy tickets. “You can see the water and the boats underneath. You aren’t afraid of heights, are you?”

Jeongin gave him a look. “I’ve been looking down on this planet from the greatest height known to man for the majority of my life, Hyunjin.”

“Fair point,” Hyunjin said.

They somehow managed to get the entire gondola to themselves. Hyunjin felt a little queasy seeing the ground disappear from under their feet, and felt queasier still when he thought about the gondola falling into the water. He decided to look at Jeongin instead, who was gaping at the sight of the city from here.

Hyunjin quickly snapped a picture of Jeongin staring out the window. He thought he even captured the sparkle in Jeongin’s eye.

They spent a good hour or so exploring the various shops and spots of the small mountain town, with Jeongin even insisting they buy a couple of ridiculous nicknacks and post cards and sunglasses. Hyunjin complied, of course. He wanted to have something more than just pictures to remember this day by.

The view from here was even better. Hyunjin snapped another picture of Jeongin staring out in awe at the ocean and the city. Then Jeongin insisted that he take pictures of Hyunjin too, telling him to go stand near the edge of the lookout and pose. Hyunjin had to tell Jeongin how to work the camera first, but Jeongin got it quickly and took a few pictures. They weren’t that bad, either. Then Hyunjin insisted that they take a couple of silly selfies together.

They rode the train down the mountain, then took the ferry across the bay back to the gondola station. It was only mid-afternoon at that point, but the two of them were already dragging a bit. Hyunjin suggested they go see a movie, to which Jeongin happily agreed.

Hyunjin made sure to buy all the popcorn and candy, and chose two seats in the very back of the theater, right in the center. As they waited for the movie to begin, they took a few more silly selfies. Then Jeongin nagged Hyunjin to show him all of the pictures he had taken, but Hyunjin stubbornly refused.

“You’ll see them later, I promise,” Hyunjin said.

Jeongin pouted at that and decided to snag the popcorn bucket from Hyunjin’s lap. “You don’t get any more of this. It’s all mine now.” He stuck his tongue out at Hyunjin before both of them dissolved into a fit of laughter.

During the actual movie, Hyunjin kept sneaking glances at Jeongin, feeling like his heart was going to burst with every glance. Jeongin was totally engrossed in the movie, his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open. Hyunjin couldn’t help grinning.

He considered doing the cheesy stretch and smoothly putting his arm around Jeongin’s shoulders, but decided against it at the last minute.

After the movie, Jeongin could _not_ stop ranting about all the amazing aspects about it.

“The _visuals_ and that one scene where they saved the day and all of the explosions and that awesome one-liner—”

Hyunjin had to laugh. Why did Jeongin have to be so goddamn _cute_?

As they headed out of the theater, Jeongin suddenly stopped with a little gasp. Hyunjin followed his gaze. He was staring at the claw machine in the corner.

“What is _that_?” Jeongin gaped.

“A claw machine?” Hyunjin said as they walked over to it. “You put money in and move that metal claw around and try to pick up a stuffed animal. It’s not as easy as it looks.”

“Can you show me?” Jeongin looked up at him with those big, pleading eyes of his.

As if Hyunjin could ever say _no_. He pulled out his wallet and slipped a few coins into the machine. “Which one are we going for?” he asked Jeongin.

Jeongin’s eyes had grown impossibly wider. “That one,” he said, pointing at a pink teddy bear.

“Okay.” Hyunjin focused on moving the claw and positioned it just right over the bear. He hit the down button, and Jeongin held his breath as the claw wrapped around the bear.

The claw pulled free without the bear, making Jeongin’s shoulders slump in disappointment.

“We can try again,” Hyunjin told Jeongin.

And try again they did. And again. And again. Until Hyunjin was almost out of money.

“One more,” Hyunjin said. “Last try.”

“We can do it!” Jeongin said.

They took too much time on this last try, trying to position the claw just right, even having Jeongin step to the side and view the claw from that angle. When they thought they finally had it, they hit the down button together and held their breath again as the claw lowered.

A few minutes later they were walking back to the train station, with Jeongin grinning from ear-to-ear, hugging a cheap pink bear to his chest and ignoring all the strange looks he got from other people. Hyunjin smiled back at him, extremely proud ofhow Jeongin didn’t care what anyone else thought.

“One last selfie?” Jeongin asked when they were on the train. “With Pinky?”

“You named it Pinky?” Hyunjin couldn’t help laughing.

“Yep!”

“I like it.” Hyunjin held up his phone. Jeongin posed by putting his head on Hyunjin’s shoulder. Hyunjin then leaned his head against Jeongin’s and snapped the picture.

They took a few, and by the time they got off the train, they were laughing as they went through those selfies.

When they reached the apartment, Jeongin stopped by the door to the alley and turned to look at Hyunjin with a big smile on his face.

“I had a lot of fun,” Jeongin said.

“Me too,” Hyunjin said.

They smiled at each other for a few moments, where Hyunjin couldn’t help glancing down at Jeongin’s lips. Should he—? It was the perfect timing, after all, wasn’t it?

Hyunjin glanced away, destroying that moment entirely with his hesitation. “Uh, I guess I’ll see you later, then,” he said to Jeongin.

“Yeah,” Jeongin said. “See you later. Thanks again for today.”

Hyunjin smiled at him. “Anything for you, Innie.” Then, with that, he gave one last smile before turning and walking away.

That night, he went through all of the photos, unable to keep himself from grinning. He stayed up later than usual picking out his favorites. By morning, he already had them sent to a local store to have them printed. All he had to do was pick them up when they were ready, get a photo album, and start writing the notes.

For the first time in a long time, Hyunjin truly felt hopeful.

*

Over the next few days, Jeongin ran the store during the day and didn’t do much else. Felix was beginning to move his things into Seungmin’s apartment, so he rarely spent the night at Jeongin’s apartment now. In fact, Jeongin only really saw him while they were working together at the store. Right at closing, Felix said his goodbyes and went off to spend his time with Seungmin. That was fine with Jeongin, who then went right over to Hyunjin’s. They were getting into the habit of eating dinner together, chatting about each other’s days, and then settling down to watch a movie together (Jeongin had gotten _hooked_ on superhero movies—they were absolutely _incredible_ , in his opinion). Then they got ready for bed together before tucking themselves in, where Hyunjin would read a chapter or two of the book before they fell asleep.

If Jeongin didn’t know any better, he’d say that he and Hyunjin were becoming more of a couple. Honestly, he was more confused than anything, since he had accidentally slipped up a few times and had told Hyunjin he loved him. It wasn’t a dramatic _I love you_ or anything—just a casual “love you” in the middle of the conversation. What baffled Jeongin even more was that Hyunjin barely even registered it and would always reply, “Love you too.” He wasn’t even rushing to add, “But just as friends!”

So, Jeongin had to wonder…was Hyunjin beginning to see them as more of a couple too? Or was he just assuming now that whenever they told each other “I love you,” it was implied that they were just friends?

He was confused. So confused.

But he was happy. He had to admit that. He was so happy that he and Hyunjin could just… _be_. Without tripping over themselves to assure that they were _just friends._ They could enjoy spending time with each other without that obvious tension from before Australia.

Jeongin even started to think that maybe, just maybe, he could tolerate running the bookstore for the rest of his Earthly life if he had Hyunjin to run it with him. He could tolerate a little bit of boredom here and there as long as he could always come home to Hyunjin. It made him wonder if this was what Woojin had wanted when he was on Earth but had never gotten the opportunity to have both.

He should tell Hyunjin all of this. Just to clear the waters. But he was terrified that he would only shatter this sense of peace, that he would destroy what they had. What if Hyunjin thought they were only doing this as friends after all? What if Hyunjin still didn’t feel the same? What if Hyunjin saw this as only temporary, and that it would end as soon as he found another romantic partner? Jeongin didn’t want to ruin this.

So he stayed quiet. But it was always on his mind.

One night, just a couple days after their wonderful city outing, Hyunjin seemed tenser than usual. Jeongin didn’t want to remark on it, but he saw the way Hyunjin’s hands trembled when he reached for the food at dinner. He saw the way Hyunjin’s eyes always seemed to be lingering on him whenever Jeongin wasn’t looking, and that they would dart away quickly whenever Jeongin finally looked.He saw the way Hyunjin didn’t eat as much at dinner. He even noticed how Hyunjin stiffened whenever Jeongin touched him.

Although they carried on their night like usual, Jeongin couldn’t help thinking that he had done something wrong. That Hyunjin had something to tell him, something big. Had he met someone? When? Was he finally going to tell Jeongin that they couldn’t be like this anymore?

Hyunjin’s strange behavior brought Jeongin’s mood down. They hardly spoke over dinner or throughout the movie Jeongin chose. As the credits began to play, Hyunjin took a deep breath, and Jeongin steeled himself for the inevitable words.

Instead, Hyunjin said, “I have something for you.”

 _An eviction notice?_ Jeongin thought. But he put on a smile and said, “Really?”

“Yep.” Hyunjin flashed a smile at him. Then he jumped up and ran off before they could look at each other for too long. “Be right back!”

Jeongin nodded and tried to take a deep breath to calm himself. He tried to think of the positive outcomes but failed. All he could think of was that this was probably the last night like this. At least it had been good while it lasted.

Hyunjin came back, something hidden behind his back. “So,” he said, sitting down on the couch, turned so whatever he had was still blocked from Jeongin’s view. “You know all those pictures I took when we went to the gardens and stuff?”

Jeongin nodded.

“Well, I picked out my favorites and put them in this album for you!” Hyunjin presented a thick book to him with a grin. “Think of it as our portfolio! You as a model, and me as a photographer.”

Jeongin blinked at the sight of the album. This was what Hyunjin had been so nervous about? Why?

Or, was this the first time Hyunjin had ever showed his creative endeavors to anyone? Did he seriously think Jeongin would criticize him?

Jeongin’s worries started to fade as he took the album from Hyunjin. He couldn’t help smiling at the cover. It was a simple black leather, with silly, fun letters spelling out the title. It was probably something cheesy. That was Hyunjin for you. 

Jeongin glanced up at Hyunjin and grinned. Hyunjin was currently wringing his hands, but smiled back when Jeongin looked up.

Jeongin started to flip through it. There was just one photo per page. The first one was of Jeongin standing at the outlook on top of the mountain, with the ocean in the background. He was grinning at the camera, his entire face practically glowing. Somehow Hyunjin had edited to make the colors even brighter and more saturated than the original. Jeongin smiled and kept flipping.

There were pictures of him at the garden, of him staring out the window on the train, of him trying to feed a duck. There were pictures of him trying on ridiculous tourist outfits, of him making silly faces at the camera, of him trying to shove that entire hot dog they had gotten for lunch into his mouth. There were flattering shots and not so flattering shots, and all of them made Jeongin smile.

There were also little notes stuck to each picture. Jeongin ran his fingers over them lightly, wondering what they said. He could make out little hearts and smiley faces, but everything else was just foreign symbols to him. He could only assume that they were just describing what they did that day for future reference.

When he got to the end, there was the picture of both of them on the train on the way home, with Jeongin putting his head on Hyunjin’s shoulder while holding up his pink bear happily. All the note on that picture had was a giant heart with two symbols in it.

Taped to the inside of the back cover was an envelope with more writing on it. Jeongin wasn’t sure what to do with it, so he looked up at Hyunjin curiously.

“Are there more pictures in that?” he asked.

Hyunjin blinked, his face looking somewhat distraught. He almost looked like he was on the verge of tears, or like he was going to throw up. Or both. Jeongin seriously didn’t understand what he was so worked up about. Jeongin had liked the pictures, obviously. Or had Hyunjin expected more verbal feedback?

“I liked all of them,” Jeongin added quickly. “All of the pictures, I mean. They were really pretty. I think you could really do something great with your photography skills.”

“Oh,” Hyunjin said, his shoulders drooping. “That’s all?”

Jeongin frowned. “Uh, I guess. What else do you want me to say?”

Hyunjin looked shocked and hurt. But he swallowed and stared down at his hands as he said, “I guess I just…wanted more of a reaction. I put a lot of thought into it. A lot of heart.”

“I know,” Jeongin said, still trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do. “It must have taken you a long time to pick out all the photos and then edit them and then get them printed. And then the notes—I can’t read them, but I know it probably took a lot of time for you to think of something to say and write it.” He gave a small smile, hoping that was enough.

Hyunjin frowned. “Wait, what?”

“What?” Jeongin blinked at him. “Did I say something wrong?”

“You didn’t read the notes?”

Jeongin stared at him for a few moments before shaking his head slowly. “No…I can’t read, Hyunjin. You know that, right?”

Hyunjin stared back at him, his mouth hanging open. Then he let out a little laugh that sounded somewhat psychotic. Once he started laughing, he couldn’t stop. He just laughed and laughed and dropped his face into his hands.

Jeongin had no idea what he was laughing at. Usually he would join in, but he couldn’t even force a laugh at this point.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked.

“Myself,” Hyunjin said, still giggling. He shook his head and slapped himself lightly. Jeongin jumped. “Oh my _god,_ I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe I forgot you couldn’t read. God!” He covered his face with his hands again, still giggling.

Now Jeongin was starting to think that Hyunjin had somehow gone insane. He didn’t know the first thing about dealing with insane people. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then opened it again, then closed it again. He had no words.

Hyunjin’s laughter died down, and he looked so much more relaxed than before. “Oh, god. I thought you had just skimmed over the notes and then completely disregarded what they said. Jesus, that scared the shit out of me, you have no idea.”

“Well, what do they say?” Jeongin frowned.

Hyunjin’s smile faded as he stared down at the photo album. He wouldn’t meet Jeongin’s gaze. “They just…they just say what I like about you in that photo, I guess. I dunno. Stupid sappy stuff.” He shrugged and started to pull the album out of Jeongin’s hands, but Jeongin pulled it back, refusing to let go. That got Hyunjin to finally look up at him.

“Can you read them to me?” Jeongin asked. “If you put so much thought and energy into them, I want to know what they say.”

Hyunjin stared at him for a few moments, his eyes once again full of that fear and pain and nausea. Jeongin didn’t understand what he was so terrified about.

But eventually Hyunjin sighed and relented. He flipped to the front cover of the album, glanced up at Jeongin one last time as if to be sure, then sighed again. “It says ‘Jeongin and Hyunjin’s Story’,” he said.

Jeongin nodded.

Hyunjin flipped to the first page, stared at the first picture, and sighed for a third time. Jeongin was starting to think he was struggling to breathe, but then Hyunjin pointed to the first note and read, “Dear Jeongin. I’ve finally decided to stop overthinking and to just trust my heart and my gut. So here goes. Please don’t laugh at me, because I honestly don’t think I can take it. The truth is, I’ve loved you for longer than you know.”

Jeongin blinked in surprise. Hyunjin didn’t look at him and flipped the page, moving onto the next note.

“I don’t know when I actually fell for you, but I have a feeling it had to do with your eyes. You have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. They look like they hold entire galaxies in them. I could honestly stare at them forever.”

He moved onto the next page.

“I also love your smile. When you smile, I swear it lights up the world. Or, at the very least, it lights up my world. I guess you can say that you’re my world, ha ha. Sorry if that’s so cheesy.”

When he turned the page this time, he glanced up at Jeongin as if to gauge his reaction. Jeongin just stared at the photo album with wide eyes.

Hyunjin looked back at the album. Taking a deep, shaky breath, he read, “Did I ever mention that your face looks like it was sculpted by some master artist? Because it does. It’s perfect, just like you.” There was a second, smaller note on that same page that said, “That was also so cheesy.”

Jeongin snorted at that, making Hyunjin glance up at him. Jeongin gave him a small smile, which spurred Hyunjin to keep going.

“Most people who have pretty faces don’t have pretty souls. But you do. Your soul and heart are just as beautiful as your outward appearance. You are beautiful inside and out.”

Now tears were beginning to fill Jeongin’s eyes.

Hyunjin flipped the page, unable to keep himself from giving a short laugh at that picture, which was the one of Jeongin trying to shove an entire hot dog in his mouth. Hyunjin read, “Yes, oddly enough, you’re beautiful even when you try to do stupid things like this. At least you make me laugh.”

The next page, which was of Jeongin trying on silly tourist outfits, “You make me laugh more than anyone else. And just to let you know, every time you laugh—which then makes me laugh—I end up falling a bit more for you.”

Hyunjin was deliberately not looking at Jeongin now.

They were nearing the end.

“What I’m trying to say,” Hyunjin read, “is that I love spending time with you and making you laugh. I love the way I feel when I’m around you. I feel like I’m on top of the world—maybe all the way up in the Celestial Sphere. I feel braver when I’m around you, like I could do anything. I feel lighter, like my worries are no longer holding me down. I feel happier.”

Onto the second-to-last page, “You make me happy, Jeongin, and I want to make you happy too. I know I’ve hurt you in the past, and there’s no excuse for that. But I promise in the future I will do everything I can to make sure you’re happy. Even if that means it’s—” Hyunjin stopped, swallowed, and forced himself to read, “Even if that means it’s with someone else. I understand. You deserve all the love in the world and beyond.”

They were onto the last note, the one with their selfie.

Hyunjin paused when he saw that one and said softly, “That’s just a heart with our initials in it. It’s the first letter of my name and the first letter of yours.”

Jeongin didn’t say anything.

Hyunjin reached out and opened the envelope. He pulled out a bigger piece of paper, folded into thirds. With a glance at Jeongin, he unfolded it, took one last deep breath, and read, “I love you, Jeongin. I think I always have.” He swallowed and read the last few lines, “Signed, with all the love in the world and beyond, Hyunjin. P.S., I’m sorry it took me so long.”

He fell silent, now crying freely. He kept his face lowered as he wiped at the tears, though one still slipped past and fell onto the note. Hyunjin quickly folded the note back up.

Jeongin didn’t know when he started crying, but he was now crying too. He stared at Hyunjin, wondering in the back of his mind if this was still a joke. But he knew deep in his heart that he didn’t believe that one bit and that Hyunjin really did feel the same way about Jeongin as Jeongin felt about him.

When Jeongin didn’t speak for several moments, Hyunjin sniffed and said, “You don’t have to respond. I know it’s a lot. And I know you probably don’t feel the same anymore but I wanted to—”

“I love you,” Jeongin said.

Hyunjin looked up in surprise. “I—what?”

“I love you,” Jeongin repeated. “I love you more than a friend, Hyunjin. And I don’t want to be with anyone else. I want to be with you.”

Hyunjin stared at him for several moments. Jeongin didn’t look away for a moment. He stared right into Hyunjin’s eyes, hoping that Hyunjin would gaze into his own and see that he meant every single word.

Slowly, with his hand still trembling, Hyunjin reached out to him. He paused for a moment right before touching Jeongin’s face, but then he overcame that hesitation and cupped the side of Jeongin’s face in his hand. Jeongin leaned into his touch.

Hyunjin’s face broke into a relieved, soft smile. “Jeongin,” he murmured. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” Jeongin said without hesitating.

Hyunjin smiled again, his eyes sparkling with both tears and happiness, before he leaned forward. Jeongin thought he would hesitate like he did a moment earlier, but he didn’t. Instead, he leaned right in and connected their lips.

It wasn’t a deep kiss at all—nothing more than just them pressing together, really—but it still sent a spark coursing through Jeongin’s entire body. Still made his heart pound. Still took his breath away. Still made him immediately miss the softness and warmth when Hyunjin pulled away.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” Hyunjin whispered, his eyes filling with more tears. “I’m so sorry, Jeongin. I was an idiot and I still think you deserve better and—”

“Kiss me again to make up for it?” Jeongin interrupted.

Hyunjin let out a breath like he hadn’t expected that at all. But then he smiled softly and said, “I’d love to.”

Jeongin grinned right before Hyunjin kissed him again.

He kissed him and kissed him and kissed him. And when it was finally time to go to bed, Hyunjin kissed him some more. Kissed him on the forehead and the cheeks and the tip of his nose and then again on the lips. Whispered, “I love you,” in between each kiss. Jeongin just giggled and hugged him tightly and whispered, “I love you too,” in response to every single one.

They settled down with their arms wrapped around each other tightly, with Jeongin’s head tucked under Hyunjin’s chin and his face buried in his chest. He could hear the beating of Hyunjin’s heart. It made him smile, knowing it beat for him.

“I love you,” Hyunjin whispered one last time.

Jeongin couldn’t help smiling. “I know.”

“I’m going to tell you every time I think of it. To make up for lost time.”

Jeongin’s smile widened. “Okay.”

“You don’t have to say it back, but—”

“I’ll say it back. I love you too.”

Hyunjin sighed and hugged Jeongin tighter. “Goodnight, Jeongin.”

“Goodnight, Hyunjin.”

In the morning, they’d face a new day, and possibly a new challenge, together. But for now, they just enjoyed each other’s presence and warmth and love, knowing that neither of them was going to leave any time soon.

*

The following day, Hyunjin was hanging out with Jeongin in the store, keeping him company behind the counter. They were talking quietly, and Hyunjin was absent-mindedly running his hand up and down Jeongin’s arm, when the front door to the store opened.

A clear, familiar voice rang out.

“And here I was thinking that I’d have to actually intervene if you guys didn’t get it together soon enough!”

Both Hyunjin and Jeongin turned to see none other than Seo Changbin standing there, grinning from ear-to-ear as he looked at them.

“It’s about damn _time_ ,” he said.

And Hyunjin and Jeongin just laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> So......did this live up to your expectations??? I'm sorry it was shorter than the past few parts :( I'll admit part of the reason why I struggled writing this part was because I was worried I wouldn't be able to deliver...but honestly I really like how this turned out, so I hope you did too!
> 
> Also, this isn't the end of the series--there is still going to be one more part as promised! 
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


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